Legal Help Desk

Lambda Legal joined other legal, medical and social services providers in a letter today urging the New York City welfare agency to update its policies regarding transgender people.

The letter to the city Human Resources Administration points to the agency's "lack of a uniform and appropriate method of processing" public benefit recipients' requests to change the gender listed in official records and benefit cards.

"In the past five months we have heard more than 30 reports of disrespectful and discriminatory treatment," the letter reads in part. "The majority of those reporting state that the unjust treatment was based on their gender identity, sexual orientation or HIV-positive status. The abuse is varied and includes: refusal to use recipients' preferred names and pronouns, homophobic and transphobic criticisms of recipients' lifestyles and appearences, and denials of requests to change recipients' gender markers."